bestguru

Is there any advantage to 1403 over 0314? I've noticed that more people play it even though it has the disadvantage of not being able to probe for 6♣ contracts when you need to know if your partner has zero or one ace. Am I missing something?

Nice one. It took me quite a while to figure out how to . My pattern matching was so off that I started to get dizzy until I finally sorted out that the 10 is one card.

Thanks for all your replies. My mistake was thinking 2♣ followed by 3♥ showed 6♥/4♣ instead of the other way around. It must have been the article about canape openings I was reading earlier in the day. Walddk: I appreciate the breakdown and most of what you say there makes sense. I'd be worried about the 2♠ over 2♦ since it distorts the shape of your hand. Is this risky when you are pretty sure you are going to press for a small slam? You can always show your spade control later. Mike: Good advice about COUNT and VISUALIZATION. I'm working on them. Still bends my mind most hands. As for bidding longest suits first, I'd really like to avoid that :lol:. Of course I usually don't have that choice as I don't have any regular partnerships.

Playing 2/1 with weak jump shifts. First time partner so not much defined. Partner deals and opens 1d You hold ♠A5 ♥AkQJ85 ♣A874 ♦9 I don't think I did a good job of getting the point across: 1♦ 2♣ 2♦ 3♥ 3NT 4♠ 4NT ... From here I would probably have said 5h. Should I just go to 6?

I'd be amazed if this didn't create more problems than it solves. 1354 after 1♣:1♠? If you have a diamond stop and don't mind getting to 2nt that becomes 1♣ 1♠ 2♦ otherwise it is 1♣ 1♠ 1NT. I don't see much of a problem there

What do you think about using canape openings with a weak 1nt. That would seem to solve your rebid problems. Your 1435 becomes a 1♥ with a 2♣ response

I like the mouse over popups. Simple and efficient. I must say that I was appalled when I first logged into bbo online. It looked like a giant mess. However, it did not take long to get a handle on it. Overall, I would say its a good interface for less experienced users. I think dockable windows would be a nice approach to Andych's request. These windows normally be just part of the main window but could be minimized into an icon along the lower right side ( or wherever ) or dragged of into seperate windows. You might want to make an option in the options dialog to allow dockable windows to be seperated to prevent novice users from being confused. -edit- Posted that while Fred was replying. The option I meantioned above would be too trivial for the options dialog. Perhaps an advanced options tab would be good?

Here is case 1 for members not being aware of "delayed alerts" Can you define the term?

I would probably also lead a small club. I don't have a good reason for this other than not breaking my tenace. Free, what is your reasoning on the small club lead?

Yes, more colors is that confusing for many people. This seems like the classic normal versus power user debate. My solution to this would be add a small button to the options page to enable advanced options. You then leave everything nice and simple by default and let those who can deal with the extra complexity have the extra functionality they want. I wouldn't mind being able to classify players into arbitrary categories

Arrows, If you read the post he plays standard weak bids against weaker players and varies his tactics against stronger players. Admittedly I'm not a very good bridge player, but I do see some advantages to a randomized strategy in situations like this where you are just trying to make things harder for your opponents. If your bid always conveys the same meaning then the advantage of taking up bidding space is lessened by the information you've given the opps. Of course you can't be random when you expect your partner to respond. You can still add some uncertainty with methods like the multi2d.

I don't see the problem with your partner just saying "0-13, 5+hearts, tends towards the extremes, randomized". If your calls always go in a cycle or are always changing the same way in response to the opponents action then your randomization is poor. Opps will get the same inferences as your partner. If you are really concerned about it, partner can say one of the following: "0-13, 5+hearts, tends towards the extremes, randomized" "but my partner stinks at being random" "" "random is more like cyclic" "" "but my partner tends to get stuck in a feedback loop" Of course, these responses lead you down the same slippery slope you were on before.

As a player who regularly misses out on games while waiting the 14th club to be discarded I can't offer much insight on this one. I am quite interested in others reponses. Perhaps and easier question to answer would be, "How did you train yourself to count?"

I have been playing bridge online for about a year now. I am thinking about checking out the clubs in the Tampa, FL area. Does anybody have any advise on offline vs online bridge or suggestions as to which club? Is there anybody in a local club that wouldn't mind introducing me?

scripting bridge.exe (the command line version of gib) isn't working out for me. I am missing files and the command line switches do not seem to match the documentation I found on the web. Here is the doc I found. maybe you will have more luck with it than me. http://www.kolumbus.fi/sackab/kgb/all_htm/gibdos.htm

this is what I would do at the table: I see 4 quick tricks in hearts and clubs if they break no worse than 4-2, so I need 6 trump tricks. I'll win the lead with Q♣ and lead a low ♦ to the K. I expect opps to win with the A and return a trump. I win with the A and cash A♥♣, then cross ruff keeping my K♥ as an outside entry to dummy. edit: Don't know what the keeping the K was about; I need to cash it early. I really should think before speaking.

Could you use the command line version of GIB and redirect the output to files for later parsing? I will probably be doing somethign similar soon, so let me know if you want help with the scripts. I can probably set something up over the weekend.

What if two openers can be weak or strong? 2cnd seat won't know as much. Something like: 2♣ 1 suiter 2♦ majors 2♥ spades and a minor 2♠ minors All force a response so opener has a chance to rebid with a strong hand.

How about "Chat to all mutual friends". It would allow send the message to anybody who you have marked as a friend that also has you marked as a friend.

If you are using Windows, you can enable the keyboard entry using MouseKeys. Open control panel, then Accessibility Options. Click on the Mouse tab and select Use MouseKeys. You can also use this to make your alerts and bids, but it will probably be to inconvenient.

Thanks for your replies. Inquiry: Unfortunately, I do not have a record of the incident. DeanRover: I agree completely. Fortunately this incident ended up positive for me. I'm working through "How to Play a Bridge Hand" and double checking this hand because of the negative criticism of an "Advanced" player satisfied me that the work is paying off. I am afraid that another learning player might have reacted differently and taken a step backwards here. Rain: Point taken. I am also grateful for all the positive criticism I have recieved and would hate to have lost out on that because of some report happy whiners. I will take your approach if for players I merely find obnoxious. It will probably be a tough call sometimes, but I will try to make the impact on other aspiring bridge players the criteria for reporting and not my personal reaction.

The other day I sat down at a table in the main lounge. On our first hand and first card played, my p left the table and then was mildly abusive from the lobby. I'm thick skinned and I found it rather funny so I did not report the incident. I am starting if I did a disservice to the bbo community by not reporting. what do you think?

I played a 1-1 3!d after my pickup partner passed a cue bid. Opps discovered a crossruff for 12 tricks. Appologies and explanations ensued. I think my partner had been beat up pretty badly in similar instances in the past. She chewed on that result for a couple of hands before saying "Thank you p, you are very nice".

Thanks Ben, that's what I meant. Yes, I did miss the signifigance of the lead. I did however use the bidding to assume West had the K♥ and lead low to my A for 5. Thanks Free.

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sa873hkdqt85cat75&s=skj64h853d97c6432]133|200|Scoring: IMP opening lead 5d[/hv] bidding went 1♦ p p 1♥ p 3♥ I took the A♦ at trick one. I think this was a good play. I know east isn't likely to have the Q, but taking the finesse now doesn't buy me anything and risks opps getting their spades. Did I miss something here?